80 - Vivi

Vivianara only cared about three things: trophies, prestige, and the thrill of the hunt.

And, admittedly, one more thing. Not dying.

That had been the reason she’d fled. Doing so had rankled her, but she’d had no other choice. Maybe if the man in golden armor hadn’t been so many times stronger than her, she would have stayed her ground and fought—however small the odds of her victory. But the gap had been too large. There had been no odds of victory.

Vivi had seen plenty of creatures in this new world who outmatched her, but not one so diminutive and unassuming-looking. A human. Like the ones she’d kept as pets in her past life, who would feed her and give her belly rubs as she basked in the sunrays on the windowsill. It was perplexing as much as outraging that it had been a human who had chased her away. Humans were natural servants. Ones she had great affection for—well, some of them—but Servants nonetheless.

For all she loved her new fearsome scaled body, a body that was somehow more of a perfect predator than her previous, she missed those times. And her previous humans. She still wasn’t sure what had happened. She’d been darting after a blur of fur, there’d been some kind of screeching noise, and then there’d been an instant transition—she’d woken in her dragon’s egg. And with a strange amount of clarity, her mind working in a way it never had before. Looking back on her past life was like looking through mist; everything was cloudy and hard to make out.

In her desperate attempt to escape the golden-armor man, she’d had to leave her hoard behind. That outraged her the most of everything, but between guaranteed death and having to start her collection over, she would reluctantly—reluctantly—choose the second. Fleeing and regrouping came with a chance of revenge. She was weak now, but eventually she would be able to fight that man and reclaim what was hers. And she’d add his armor to the stack. It was sparkly. She liked the way light glinted off it. And Vivi took what she liked. Especially in this new, stronger body of hers.

She soared through the sky, far above the landscape, watching it shift. She’d left for more hospitable lands. Back where she’d first been reborn—the territory she was leaving now—there had been many worthy foes, but perhaps too many. Even level thirties had been common. She welcomed prey she would need to struggle against, but a gentler land would be—well, less likely to get her killed. And while she liked the hunt, trophies, and the prestige of felling strong enemies, she also liked not dying. Maybe even more than the rest.

Plus, she would have to rebuild from scratch. Losing her hoard had drastically reduced her stats. She wasn’t as weak as at the start—she had levels, skills, and experience to call on this time—but she was still greatly reduced. Rebuilding would take time. So, best to do that somewhere safer.

It was all still annoying, though. That golden-armored man really vexed her. Vivi knew that harming the Servants was taboo—one of Vivi’s biggest scoldings had been when she’d used her claws on one of the Servant’s younger ones—but she might make an exception for that man. He had tried to kill her. Her side still ached where that disgustingly powerful blast of golden light had hit.

A magnificent being like her shouldn’t have to stoop to the same lows, but for that man, Vivi really might.

Well, in the future. She was a long ways off from being able to retaliate against him. He’d chased her off in the way Vivi might have a mouse. It was humiliating.

She wasn’t sure how far she flew. She scanned the terrain far beneath her and identified the levels of the monsters infesting the environment. The average reduced bit by bit the more she flew, and, knowing she had a lot of rebuilding to do—and also that she didn’t want to be chased off again—she kept going until she felt comfortable with the low-level-tens that became the average. It was a great distance away from where she’d started. She could fly fast, and she’d flown for many hours. She didn’t think she had to worry about the golden-armor man pursuing. While strong, he couldn’t fly, and certainly not at the same speed as her.

A new home chosen, Vivi got to work selecting her first prey. She was hurt and tired, but if she wanted to get better, she needed to restart her hoard so she could properly [Recuperate]. And that meant finding her first trophy.

***

Starting over was even easier than she’d expected. Having left behind her previous home, where even the average monster was something she would need to fight at full strength, her newfound prey were nothing short of trivial to hunt. And while Vivi enjoyed toying with frail creatures, enjoyed demonstrating her dominance over lesser beings, they also didn’t make great targets for collecting trophies or gaining experience. So Vivi needed to seek out the elites of the region. Her skill, [Apex Hunter], helped her greatly with that.

Bit by bit, her hoard accrued trophies. An enormous pair of antlers being the crown jewel, but also all sorts of pelts, skulls, claws, and other items of her conquest. With her massive debuff lifted, she could strive for stronger and stronger opponents.

In her previous life, she hadn’t been able to hunt much, not truly—she had been a perfect predator, but admittedly a small one, her teeth and claws only capable of taking down rabbits at the largest. Now, with a body the size of a house, and claws and teeth capable of crushing even the largest of animals, very little was beyond her—besides that which had a greatly higher level, but that was only a matter of time and diligence.

There was a city about a half-hour’s flight from her—which was a great distance, considering the speeds [Soar] allowed her to move—but Vivi didn’t pay it much mind. She was more interested in her hunts and growing her hoard. The idea of finding Servants had some appeal, but for now, she put it off. She found herself satisfied with her solitary life, and worried the city would have another unbelievable power like the golden-armor man. She’d really rather not start over for a second time. Or die.

About a week into rebuilding, she arrived upon something odd. It was only half a coincidence. [Apex Hunter] helped Vivi identify and track down worthy targets, to find monsters with the best quality trophies to increase the value of her hoard, and so she never had a lack of prey.

But Vivi wasn’t the only one out hunting, this time. She stumbled onto an active fight. One between a human and a [Tectonic Gorebeast]. The human was dwarfed by the boar-like monster, which stood at least four times taller than the woman.

They didn’t seem to notice Vivi soaring high above. She generally flew high enough that even with her bulk, she could go unnoticed; it was simply smart. She had learned to be more careful after the golden-armor man had hunted her down. The fewer people who knew about her, the better.

The woman wielded a long black spear speckled with white—like the night sky had been forged into a weapon. Its base had a glowing white moonstone adorning it. She moved with speed and grace Vivi had only seen on one other Servant so far: the man in golden armor. But not quite as powerful, nor as fast, nor with skills as potent; that man had been something else entirely.

She was losing, Vivi could tell.

The fight had taken its toll on both of them, but the woman would undoubtedly lose. It was plain as day. Vivi knew how to recognize such a thing, as a hunter herself. This woman, whoever she was, had gone up against an opponent that would best her. Still, Vivi watched, wondering whether she had some skill in reserve. But no such last-wind came.

If someone didn’t help, the Servant would die.

Vivi didn’t know how to feel about that. Her thoughts went to Samuel—her favorite of her Servants, who would let her curl up on his lap while he stared at the strange light-flashing box and talk endlessly to seemingly nobody. This woman didn’t resemble him at all, but Vivi’s heart still panged.

It was a Queen’s duty to protect her Servants. And this woman wasn’t her servant, but for the most part, Servants had always treated her well. She ought to do something, her instincts told her. Another part of her sneered at the sentimentality. Her thoughts, while clearer than ever before, had also been confusing since she’d broken through her dragon’s egg. Contradictory at times.

If nothing else, there were trophies to be claimed. This [Tectonic Gorebeast] was a monster she couldn’t have felled by herself, but in its weakened state, she stood a chance. It would be difficult, but possible.

And the woman had only moments left. She was too injured to even fight back, now. She’d blundered choosing her opponent, today. Servants could be short-sighted and clueless like that.

Vivi moved less by conscious decision and more by instinct. She descended from the sky, readying her claws, teeth, and skills for a fight.